Would be dumb if they didn't! Best place to advertise plus with launch.

It def would be a good idea to have some sort of Switch ad at the super bowl. It's a huge event in the US, so it seems like a good idea to do, although I imagine it's pretty expensive to secure a spot.

It's 5 million dollars for 30 seconds. That's approximately a fuckton of money. I think it's hard to justify a superbowl commercial unless you have a product that is truly mass market like beer or doritos.

To pay off it would have to be a REALLY amazing commercial that would have a big aftershock in social media. People tend to talk about the best superbowl commercials, so Nintendo would love to be in that conversation. Short of that, I think there are better ways to spend that amount of money.

If they can profit out of it, yes

it is highly highly likely

Nintendo as far as I know does not regularly release their main consoles in like March, and the Super Bowl is in February. Look at the announcement trailer for the Switch- it has that mega contemporary like smart advertising vibe. Definitely the same vein of a Super Bowl commercial

I would bet almost anything that they will have an advert during the Super Bowl. February is too close to March, and money is not an issue for Nintendo.

if the Switch was coming out next summer or Fall then I wouldn't be so confident- but March? this is a no brainer and not comparable to a lot of Nintendo's system releases in the past because of the proximity to the Super Bowl date-release wise

I also will point out that in the past Nintendo was divided- their handhelds and home consoles released at different times and it was somewhat justified to at times not go insanely heavy on advertising both since that could amount up to a lot. But in new territory situation in which they only have ONE device? they're going to go much harder on advertising than ever before probably 

Note: bear in mind the Pokemon Company had a Super Bowl commercial last year. Nintendo will definitely this time around

not an apples to apples comparison. The Wii U was released after the 3DS and Nintendo had TWO devices at the time, i.e. less pressure. They also (mistakenly due to the poor design and marketing choices) seemed to feel like they automatically were going to get the Wii Customers for the Wii U (which was bizarre since the two devices were so different).

This time around Nintendo is releasing ONE system for everything which is a fairly new idea for dedicating gaming (there hasn't really been a real hybrid focused gaming device before).

I think we should be expecting one. Bear in mind the 5 or 10 million dollars or whatever for a Superbowl spot is nothing for Nintendo, they have no reason not to do it

Superbowl commercials generally need to be something that has quick mass appeal (like you mention, food), or it generally helps to be a time sensitive manner (i.e. a very soon to release product).

With the Switch releasing in March its a no brainer to have a Super Bowl commercial. I don't have a problem with Nintendo not regularly bothering because it probably often wouldn't make a huge difference to have a big Febuary trailer during a sporting event for a system coming out in like summer or Fall, but for a system coming out the very next month? a no brainer 

I don't think a majority of Super Bowl viewers watch football

Far more expensive and niche things get advertised on Super Bowl too - like luxury cars and website hosting. Nintendo to many people is niche brand. A luxury brand in that if you play Nintendo - you probably own other systems too. But the point is to make Nintendo a mass market brand again. A great Super Bowl ad can do a lot to make that happen.

Nintendo can always make a big aftershock with the right kind of nostalgia play.

I was thinking that while I wrote my comment, but I think things like website hosting and luxury cars have a broader niche.  Like, there are probably less people overall who have a need to host a website than who might buy a switch, but the people who need the service have less in common otherwise, so you need to simply get the message out to a lot of people.

Like, if you're marketing the Switch there are game websites to buy adspace in, you could probably promote it at comic con, in theaters before a marvel movie, on a popular kids show, etc.  But there's no real place that people who need a website are going to congregate.